The 19th Generation of Samurai Power Rangers
by YaninaFrauchez
Summary: 25 Years ago Master Xandred and the Nighlok were defeated by Jayden Shiba, Lauren Shiba, and the 18th generation of Samurai Power Rangers. Though that was thought to be the end of the Samurai legacy, the Nighlok threat has returned. It's up the the next generation of warriors to take up the mantle and defeat the Nighlok. They are the 19th Generation of Samurai Power Rangers.
1. Chapter 1

The Netherworld, a world existing parallel to our own. It is the home of the deadly Nighloks an enemy that once threatened the Earth. 25 years ago the 18th generation of Samurai Power Rangers led by Jayden Shiba were able to defeat Master Xandred and seal away the remaining Nighloks with the help of his sister Lauren Shiba and her powerful sealing symbol. Since then the Earth has been at peace and the Nighlok have been stuck in the the Netherworld until today. Octoroo one of the renaming survivors of the Nighlok invasion is shown on the wrecked remains of Master Xandred's ship.

"Ooh-ah-ooh it's been 25 years all alone for Octoroo." He said looking out at the Sanzu River. "Even if I could somehow gather enough renaming Moogers and Nighloks the Red Ranger's sealing symbol makes it impossible for any Nighlok to enter the human world through the gaps." Octoroo said dismayed.

"Perhaps I can be of assistance?" He heard a mysterious but distinctly female voice said out of nowhere.

"Ooh-ah-ooh who are you?" Octoroo asked the mysterious voice.

"Who I am isn't important what matters is I can help you break the sealing symbol and once again invade the human world to raise the Sanzu River." The voice told him.

"How exactly would you do that? To break the seal you'd need to attack from the human world but no Nighlok no matter how strong can get there anymore." Octoroo said doubting this mystery voice.

"Not a full Nighlok but a half Nighlok can still enter the human world." The voice said before laughing menacingly.

"So then your a half Nighlok like Deker and Dayu?" Octoroo asked trying to figure out more information about his potential ally. The voice merely laughed again.

"I'm nothing like those two pathetic humans. I might not be a full Nighlok but I'm no human either. What I am is the ultimate being who will destroy those Samurai Rangers and led the Nighlok to take over the Earth."

"I suppose helping you is better than being stuck on this boat forever. Though if we're going to be working together I should probably have a name for you." Octoroo said after having thought over the offer.

"Just call me Invidios." It said before disappearing. Meanwhile on Earth the 18th generation of Samurai Rangers were gathering together for the first time in years since it was the 25th anniversary of the day they defeated Master Xandred and the Nighloks.

Jayden is seen at Shiba House. He hasn't changed much in the 25 years. He still had the same hairstyle and was a bit taller. He wore a simple red shirt and blue jeans.

"Is the table ready yet?" He asked heading towards the kitchen. "They're going to be here any moment now." He said looking at the clock. Jayden ran over to the main hall where he saw his son Brenden sitting down.

After the Nighloks were defeated Jayden stayed with Mentor Ji at Shiba House. One day an amateur reporter named Lia showed up having tracked the last known sighting of the Samurai Power Rangers to that spot. Jayden tried to deny any association with them but Lia had proven to be a persistent reporter. After enough time Jayden relented to a single interview where she could ask any questions over dinner. That dinner sparked a new interest in Lia not for the Samurai Rangers but for Jayden, and she asked him on another date shortly after. A few years passed with the two frequently seeing each other before Jayden finally proposed to Lia. Jayden also revealed he was the Red Samurai Ranger. Lia chose a life with Jayden over writing a story on his identity and the two married. It would seem they'd live a happy life until tragedy struck. When their son Brenden was 5 years old, Lia died in a car accident. Unable to fully cope Jayden dedicated himself and his son to samurai training. Their relationship is slightly strained and has not recovered since. Today would be the first time since Lia's funeral that all the Samurai Rangers would be together.

"Everything's taken care of dad there's no reason to be so anxious." Brenden told him. At first glance Brenden was quite different from his parents. Whereas Jayden and Lia were both light skinned with brown hair Brenden had tan skin and black hair. He also had brown eyes. These traits were often attributed to his grandparents on Lia's side of the family. He wore an open red jacket with a white shirt underneath and jeans.

"I just want today to be perfect. It's an important day." Jayden told him anxiously walking back and forth. Brenden put a hand on his dad's shoulder and gave him a smile.

"I know dad you've told me. 25 years ago today you and the other rangers beat Master Xandred to save the world. Today's a big deal for you and the others but don't worry so much. Everything will be fine." He said reassuringly. Just then the front door opened. Mike and Emily entered into the main room. Emily had grown a bit in the time since they were Rangers but was still far shorter than Mike and the shortest of all the rangers. She wore a yellow sundress and had her blond hair loose reaching past her shoulder. Mike on the other hand wore a stripped green shirt and jeans. His hair was relatively unchanged and he didn't look too far off from his days as a ranger.

"Jayden it's so good to see you again." Emily said hugging Jayden.

"Its great to see you both as well, but where are your kids?" Jayden asked surprised to see the two of them alone.

"They're unpacking some gifts we brought you and the others from the car. We only brought the twins though the others wanted to stay with Serena." Mike told him.

Mike and Emily had started dating shortly after Master Xandred was defeated. Mike moved to be with Emily in the country and to help her care for her sick sister Serena. At first it seemed Serena wouldn't get better and once some years passed with her illness showing no signs of improvement several doctors had given up hope of ever curing her. Emily never gave up on her sister though and Mike was always there for her. Serena miraculously recovered one day after fighting for several years and to celebrate Mike proposed to Emily. The two had the surprise of their life when their first child ended up being twins, one boy and one girl. Though unexpected they cared for the two and would have two more children some years later, both girls. The twins were trained as samurai but they decided not to train their youngest two daughters letting them live normal lives.

"Dad where should we put the gifts?" His son Emilio asked him. Emilio had inherited his father's brown hair that was in a Pompadour hairstyle. He was wearing a plaid yellow shirt with a green blazer over it.

"We're the first ones here so just put them in the corner of the room for now." Mike told him.

"I thought you said we were late dad?" His eldest daughter Michelle asked him confused about being the first to arrive. Michelle had her mother's blond hair though it was slightly darker due to her father's genes. Her hair was short and in pigtails. She wore a green shirt with a medium length green skirt and a yellow cardigan. She also had yellow glasses which she needed to see and was very short, just barely over 5 feet.

"Your mother likes to be early so even if we arrive on time it's considered late for her." Mike told her chuckling.

"Come on Mike it's the first time we're all together why wouldn't you want to be here early?" Emily asked excited for the reunion.

"I know I'm just surprised Kevin isn't here yet. I'd figure he'd have been here hours early with how strict his schedule is." Mike said jokingly. Little did he know Kevin had just arrived and was standing behind him.

"I guess you don't know everything about me after all." Kevin said startling Mike. The others laughed at Mike's surprise and greeted Kevin. With Kevin was his son Baron.

Kevin returned to his swim team once his samurai duties were fulfilled. He managed to qualify for the Olympics after enough training and dedication. Kevin quickly became an Olympic star winning several gold medals. It was at the Olympics that he met a girl named Amy who was competing in gymnastics. It was love at first sight and the two formed a long distance relationship. The two rarely ever saw each other in person and at times their relationship seemed doomed until by chance Kevin's swim team competed in Amy's hometown. Kevin had once given up swimming for his samurai duties and he was now ready to give it up to spend his life with Amy. Thankfully he didn't have to as Amy was willing to compromise so they could be together and neither had to permanently give up the sport they loved. When his first and only child was born Kevin told Amy about how he was once a samurai ranger and that their son would have to become the next blue ranger. They both trained Baron in the best of their abilities to get him to become the perfect samurai warrior.

"How come Amy's not with you?" Mike asked noticing it was just Kevin and his son.

"She's out of the country right now practicing for her next big competition." Kevin told them. "Baron why don't you go off with the others." He told his son noticing that the other kids had somewhat split apart from their parents. His son Baron was the splitting image of Kevin when he was a ranger. He was dressed very formally, wearing a white collar shirt with a blue vest, a blue tie and navy slacks.

"As you wish." He said before bowing and heading with the others.

"Wow your kid is even duller than you were as a ranger. I didn't think that was possible." Mike said laughing. Emily lightly shoved Mike.

"Mike don't be mean." She scolded him. Jayden smiled fondly at the three of them.

"You guys never change do you." He said thinking about how they were still the same people that were all those years ago.

"Us no but you know what I hope has changed Mia's cooking." Mike said remembering how bad Mia's cooking was when they were rangers. Unfortunately, similarly with Kevin, Mia arrived just as Mike opened his mouth.

"I thought you all liked my cooking why would you want it to change?" Mia asked Mike. Even though Mia had known for a while that the other rangers didn't like her food, she appreciated they were kind enough not to say anything so she continued pretended she didn't know.

"I just meant I'm sure we'd all like to try something different. Whatever you make will be good though." Mike said trying to save himself. Emily rolled her eyes at his poor attempt at fixing his statement.

"Well I can't cook anything until Antonio gets here since he's providing the fish. Mako can you help me put these groceries in the fridge until he gets here?" Mia asked her daughter. Mako had her mother's black hair in a medium length pixie cut with her hair close to her face. She was wearing a pink crop top with a blue denim jacket and a pink miniskirt.

"It's just you and Mako?" Emily asked Mia. Before she could answer though Mako did.

"Dad's still really scared of this place and mom still hasn't told him about all this samurai stuff so it was best to leave him and Sammy at one of the hotel's our family owns." Mako said putting the groceries away for Mia.

Mia went to Culinary School after Master Xandred's defeat. There she learned how to improve her cooking skills. Mia was still missing her prince charming though. One day she visited the music school near her culinary school to talk with a professor who taught at both. There she met up with a familiar face from her days as a Samurai Ranger. It was the guy she'd met at the Nighlok attack on a factory. It turns out his name was Spike Skullovitch he was the son of Eugene Skullovitch a famous pianist know better as Skull who was giving a presentation at the school. Along with being a renowned pianist Skull owned a few hotels he inherited from his grandparents and he had his own resort called Bulkmeier's named after his best friend. Mia was confused as to why Spike was having money problems when they first met if his dad was so rich and Spike offered to explain the situation over dinner. Mia was a bit reluctant at first. Spike seemed like a nice guy but he was pretty young and a tad strange. She decided to be nice though and accept his offer. Spike was desperate to see Mia again after that dinner so he had his dad help enroll him in the music school as a rap artist. Mia went over to the music school every once in a while to visit Spike but she always considered him as just a friend. In one last attempt to win Mia over Spike had his dad play something he wrote while he expressed his feelings for her through song. It was here Mia realized Spike wasn't just some kid with a crush he really admired her and cared for her. Sure he was goofy and a bit of an oddball but she could tell he was sincere and genuine about his feelings towards her. She decided to give him a chance and the two started dating. It wasn't long before the two married. Spike always felt nervous around the other samurai rangers, especially Emily who had an eerie similarity to the drill sergeant that still haunted his nightmares. Due to this Mia never told Spike about her being a samurai or the identity of the rangers. She also never told her eldest son Samuel, nicknamed Sammy since he was far too much like his father and couldn't keep a secret. Only her daughter Mako knows since Mia had to train her to be the next pink samurai ranger.

"Is Spike still scared of us. I feel so bad for him." Emily said knowing it was mostly her fault he didn't like being over at Shiba house.

"He's not scared of you guys he's just scared of this place. I'm sure he'll get over it someday. Besides he said he was going to see if his uncle still lived in the city." Mia told them.

"I'm glad you're here anyway Mia. Now all we have to do is wait on Antonio and Lauren to arrive." Jayden told her.

"Great the guy who's bringing the food had to be the last one to get here." Mike complained as he was getting hungry.

"Maybe next time we have a reunion we should tell him the wrong hour so he'll be here on time." Jayden said knowing his best friend had a tendency to be late.

While the adult rangers were waiting for Antonio to arrive with their fish the kids were in the training room together. They didn't see each other that often and therefore didn't have as close of a friendship with each other as the adult rangers.

"So how's all of your guys's training been going?" Brenden asked them trying to start a conversation.

"It's been difficult but my parents have expectations and I strive to be the best." Baron answered him.

"What's so difficult all you have to do is draw some fancy lines and swing a sword. I could do it in my sleep." Emilio said confidently.

"Is that a challenge because I believe you'll find me to be the superior samurai amongst us." Baron confidently told Emilio.

"I'm sure you're a great samurai Baron but you should see Emilio in action. He never needs to practice and everything comes so easy to him. On the other hand I have to practice day and night to get anywhere close to his level." Michelle said backing up her brother.

"Mom and dad agree I'm a natural at this. They've told me that I'm much better than either of them were when they were my age." Emilio bragged to the others.

"Why don't you prove it to us then?" Mako asked Emilio handing him a practice sword and Baron another one.

"You know we aren't supposed to use these without one of our parents supervising us." Brenden reminded them.

"Oh come on were not kids anymore. We've all been training for years and if we're ever going to be ready we need to practice without them babysitting us. There's no reason they should have to be here." Mako complained.

"I'm inclined to agree with Brenden. We should respect our parents' decisions and if they believe us not ready to train alone there is a reason for it." Baron said putting down the practice sword Mako gave him.

"Seriously we're all around the age they were when they became Power Rangers so why do you guys let them treat us like children." Mako said frustrated.

Emilio turned and smirked at Mako. "You have a point you know. Why don't we forget about them and do our own training session." He said tossing Mako the practice sword Baron put down. "Come on let's go just me and you. If you think you can keep up that is." He taunted.

"Emilio what are you doing?" Michelle asked Emilio shocked. Emilio would always mess around during practice but that's just because of his natural talent. This however was different. He was completely disobeying their parents and the rest of the former samurai rangers.

"She's right about this Michelle. If we're all supposed to become Power Rangers someday then why don't our parents trust us enough to train on our own. Maybe it's because they already defeated the Nighlok so there's no reason for us to ever become Power Rangers." Emilio said.

"Its not a matter of trust but safety. Now put the training swords back before we get in trouble." Brenden told them strictly.

"What's the matter are you scared of what will happen?" Emilio asked taunting Brenden.

"Emilio stop this isn't like you." Michelle shouted at him. Emilio ignored his sisters please as Brenden stopped forward. He firmly put one of his hands on the practice sword Emilio was holding.

"I'm going to ask you one more time to put the sword back." Brenden said staring down Emilio.

"What's going to happen if I don't?" Emilio asked unintimidated.

"Believe me you don't want to find out." Brenden answered.

Neither of the two moved and there was a lot of tension in the room. Suddenly Emilio started laughing and shook his head as he gave the sword over to Brenden. Seeing that nobody else laughed caused Emilio to laugh harder.

"Wow you guys do not know how to take a joke." Emilio said still laughing.

"That wasn't funny Emilio someone could've gotten hurt." Michelle scolded him.

"Come on Michelle lighten up I thought today was supposed to be a celebration." Emilio said. "What's the point of all of us getting together if we aren't allowed to have a little bit of fun." He said.

"I don't know how you put up with him. Almost makes me glad we won't have to become Power Rangers." Mako told Michelle.

"Oh he's not that bad. You know once you get used to his sense of humor." Michelle said nervously as she rubbed the back of her head.

A moment later Jayden walked into the training room to find the kids. "Antonio and Lauren are here so why don't you kids come and eat." He told them. They headed out, but as they were leaving Jayden noticed something was wrong with Brenden. "Something bothering you son?" He asked.

"It's nothing don't worry about it." He said not wanting to talk about it. Jayden however frowned knowing something was wrong with his son.

"Come on I know when something is bothering you so tell me what wrong." Jayden persistently said as he put his hand on Brenden's shoulder.

"It's just well ... why do you and the other samurai rangers treat us like children?" Brenden asked Jayden.

"What are you talking about Brenden?" Jayden asked him not sure what he meant.

Brenden sighed and shook his head. "Dad you just called us kids. Plus we aren't allowed to train unless someone is supervising us. When you and your friends were our age you became Power Rangers so why do you all treat us like children?" Brenden asked him again.

"Where's this coming from?" Jayden asked Brenden.

"Mako and Emilio. They said you and the other rangers treat us like children and they're right about it." Brenden said.

Jayden paused for a moment to think. "I guess it's just hard seeing you all so grown up. When I was your age the world still needed Samurai Power Rangers, but now even though you're trained you're not needed. The Nighlok threat is gone. There hasn't been an attack in 25 years so we were able to be lenient with your training. I'm sorry if I made you feel bad, but you're a great Samurai and you'd be a great Red Ranger." Jayden said.

"Not as good as you or Aunt Lauren, but thanks dad." Brenden said hugging Jayden. Antonio walked in looking for the two of them.

"Jayden, Brenden come on food is ready and everyone's starving." He told them.

"We're coming Antonio." Jayden said heading towards the kitchen. Brenden looked at the practice sword that was on the floor. Luckily Jayden hadn't noticed it, or hadn't cared if he did notice it. He put it back where it belonged and went to join the others in the kitchen where Antonio and Mia were preparing the fish and burgers.

Antonio might not have been a true samurai but through determination he found a way to join his best friend as a Samurai Power Ranger. Antonio went on a cruise after everything was over to find new and exotic fish. On one of the cruise's stops he found Lauren, Jayden's sister. She was off seeing the world since she missed out on a lot of experiences while perfecting the sealing symbol. Antonio had only spoken to Lauren once before and he always felt nervous around her. He figured he should at least attempt to get along with her. She was his best friend's sister and he couldn't avoid her forever. He invited her to go fishing with him and she agreed seeing as how it was something she wanted to learn. Lauren learned quickly and managed to catch more than Antonio much to his chagrin. After fishing Lauren asked to see Antonio's gold morpher. Antonio tried to explain how it worked to Lauren but she only understood about half of what he said since she spent most of her life without much technology. The two spent the next few days together bonding and becoming close friends. When Antonio's cruise was set to depart for its next destination the two were sad to say goodbye. Lauren really enjoyed the time they had spent together and decided to get herself a ticket so she could keep spending time with him. By the time the cruise ended and they returned to Panorama city the two had decided along the way to start dating. Jayden was unsure how to feel about this. Antonio was his best friend and he had always seen him as a brother, now though he was dating his sister. In the end however, Jayden was happy for the two of them. They dated for a few years until Lauren took the initiative and proposed to Antonio. They had a daughter named Olivia. Lauren and Antonio both decided not to train her as a samurai. Antonio wasn't a true samurai to begin with and Lauren had lost her life to her samurai duties. She didn't want that for her daughter. The world was at peace anyway and the Nighloks were gone forever there was no need for another gold ranger or another female red ranger.

"Antonio you might not be the best at arriving on time but man do you know how to get the best fish." Mike told him as everyone was finished eating.

"Wish I could take the credit but this was Olivia's catch. She's on her way to becoming the next Garcia fishing expert." Antonio said looking at Olivia proud. Olivia wore a red and blue stripped dress with a sparkling gold jacket and a scarf similar to the one her father always had. Her hair was dark blond and in a long ponytail. "Either way it doesn't matter how good our fishing skills are we wouldn't have this meal if it wasn't for Mia. Her cooking skills are fantastico." He compliment.

"Dad's right Mia we might be able to catch the fish but your cooking makes this meal fabuloso." Olivia said with a noticeably better accent and pronunciation compared to her father.

"Now that we're finished eating Mike and I got all of you gifts." Emily said getting up from the table and heading to where Michelle and Emilio left the gifts.

"That's so thoughtful. I wish I had gotten you all something." Lauren said.

"Lauren just being here is a good enough gift. I'm glad you consider us your friends even if we didn't make the best first impression." Emily said before hugging Lauren.

"Friends right." Lauren mumbled while awkwardly hugging Emily back. In all honesty Lauren only felt comfortable around Jayden and Antonio. Sure she liked the other Samurai Rangers but wasn't sure if she'd call them her friends. Lauren had difficulty making friends, and she had even more difficulty expressing herself.

"Well we've waited long enough go ahead and open your gifts." Mike said anxiously. Unfortunately they wouldn't get a chance to open their presents. Their good time and their reunion was about to be interrupted as they heard a sound they'd hoped never to hear again. The gap sensor. After 25 years of peace the Nighlok threat had returned.

* * *

**Author's Note:** Been far too long since I've written a fanfic, but I got busy with starting my first year at university as well as starting a part time job as a waitress. Still I love writing stories about my favorite fandoms. I have many more ideas to come, but for now I'm starting off with this next generation fic. I've wanted to do a next generation Power Rangers Samurai fic for so long, and I hope you guys enjoy it. My current writing goal is 250 words a day and going up as time continues. At that pace it shouldn't be too long for new chapters of this.

As for the OCs featured here Brenden, Michelle, Emilio, Mako, Baron, and Mia are my own creations. The same goes for the OC parents Lia and Amy. I'll briefly go over the personality of the OCs as well as why I decided to go with the parings I chose. Starting with Jayden's son Brenden he's very unsure of himself. He has a lot to live up to considering his dad and his aunt's reputation as the red rangers. I chose to make Jayden a single father to have some parental struggles with Brenden. Kevin's son Baron is very similar to Kevin in personality. He strictly follows the rules and doesn't have much fun. I'm going to have a lot of fun with him and getting him to open up more.

Michelle and Emilio are very similar to their parents in personality. Michelle is shy, nervous, and unsure of her abilities when fighting. Emilio on the other hand loves to have fun, never takes things seriously, and has the added bonus of being naturally gifted in skill. He doesn't have to practice because he's just good. Putting Mike and Emily together just made sense since they're a canon couple.

Moving on to Mia's daughter Mako they're the most different in personality. Mia was always very kind and friendly while Mako is a little more cold and distant. She doesn't like other people much and is a bit of a rebel. Putting Mia and Spike together was a last minute decision, and a favor to my sister since she likes them together. They're not one of my personal favorite ships, but I don't hate it either. They can be cute. What is my favorite ship however is my OTP Lantonio. Antonio and Lauren belong together and you can't convince me otherwise. They're daughter Olivia takes after both of them a lot. She has Antonio's personality in that she likes to have fun and loves fishing. She also has Lauren's drive, passion, and devotion. She's not trained as a Samurai since her parents didn't want that for her but that doesn't mean she can't become a ranger later in the story. I'm going to love developing her the most.

That's the basic rundown of the OCs and the pairings. I'm going to try and update this every other week and hopefully episodes will feel like short episodes of the show. I don't have the writing time to commit to a full length episode, but it'll follow the basic Power Rangers pattern of the rangers having a problem, a monster attacking, the rangers solving the problem, and destroying the monster. Let me know what you think of this introduction chapter or the OCs in general. Hope you enjoy, and I'm glad to be writing again.


	2. Nighlok Return

The gap sensor continued to go off signaling that a Nighlok was breaching into the human world. The former Samurai Rangers and their children looked back and forth at each other in confusion as to how this could be happening. All of them except for Olivia who just stood there confused.

"That's the oddest smoke detector that I've ever heard." She said. "I don't even know why it's going off now when we finished cooking the fish so long ago." She said.

Mako turned to glare at Olivia. "Do you think this is funny?" She asked.

Olivia looked even more confused at Mako's sudden anger. "What?" She asked tilting her head slightly.

"Come on Olivia this is not time to be messing around. If the signal is right then that means we have to be ready to fight." Brenden told her.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on?" Olivia asked. "Everyone has had the same odd look on their face ever since that loud alarm went off." She said.

Emilio looked over at Olivia and shook his head. "She really doesn't know does she?" He asked laughing sarcastically.

"Of course she knows." Michelle told him. "Why wouldn't she?" She asked.

"I'm with your brother on this one." Mako told Michelle. "There's no way she knows and is still deciding to act dumb about it." She said.

Baron shook his head and sighed. "I can't believe she doesn't know. Wasn't she supposed to be the one who would lead us when the time was right." He said.

Olivia threw her hands up exasperated. "She is right here, and she would like to know what she doesn't know!" She yelled out as loud as she could.

Antonio and Lauren looked at each other softly. The two exchanged a silent dialogue having an entire conversation without either of them speaking a single word. Finally they both nodded in agreement.

"Olivia doesn't know because we decided not to tell her or train her." Antonio said.

"What!" The former rangers all yelled out in surprise.

"I guess I'll never know what this is all about." Olivia murmured.

Lauren gently put her hand on her daughter's cheek and smiled. "I promise you'll get all the answers you're looking for soon. This is my fault, but I want you to know I did this to protect you." She said. Olivia sighed even more confused and left the room to go sit down in one of the spare bedrooms.

"We clearly have a lot to talk about." Jayden said looking at Lauren and Antonio dissapointed. "Before that though, we need to go see what triggered the gap sensor." He said.

"I think you mean we need to go see what triggered the gap sensor dad." Brenden told Jayden.

"No way, you kids aren't ready yet." Mike said.

"We don't know what this is all about, and you could all get hurt." Mia said.

Mako laughed sarcastically and rolled her eyes at her mom. "What, and you think you won't get hurt. Let's be real here you aren't as young as you were the last time you put on the suit." She said.

"As rudely as she may have put it Mako is right." Baron added. "The samurai legacy is about passing down the mantle to the next generation when the time comes. It is our time now whether you find us ready or not." He said.

"But you don't have a leader. If Olivia isn't ready then how will you fight?" Kevin asked them.

"I'll be the leader." Brenden said. "My dad filled in as leader while Aunt Lauren was away, so I can lead the team until Olivia is ready." He said.

"If she's ready you mean." Emilio added.

Michelle elbowed Emilio hard in the stomach for his retort and smiled. "What Emilio means is you don't have to worry about a thing. I'm sure Brenden will be a great leader." She said.

The former rangers hesitantly held onto their Samuraizers, but then handed them over to their children. "Alright, it's now your time to fight for the Earth. Go show those Nighlok why they shouldn't mess with the Samurai Power Rangers." Jayden said.

The five children took the morphers and raced out the door of Shiba House to see what had caused the gap sensor to go off in the first place. Once they were gone, the former rangers turned their attention once more to Antonio and Lauren.

"I still can't believe that you didn't tell her." Mike said.

"Let's go sit with Olivia. If we're going to talk about this, then it's only fair that she be here to hear this too." Antonio said. They headed to the bedroom Olivia was resting in ready for a hard conversation. Antonio tightly held onto Lauren's hand and gave her a subtle nod that everything would work out in the end.

In the city, the team made it to the source where the gap sensor had led them to. They looked around, but found no Nighlok presence or anything out of the ordinary at all.

"Looks like it was just a false alarm." Brenden said analyzing the area.

Emilio stretched his arms up and shook his head. "Just our luck. We finally convince them to let us handle things and it ends up being nothing at all." He said.

"Don't sound so dissapointed that the human world isn't in danger." Baron chastised Emilio. "Our mission is to keep the Earth safe. Whether or not there are Nighlok to fight what matters is that humanity survives." He said.

Mako smirked condescendingly. "No need to be such a stick in the mud Baron after all the training we've been through it's only fair that we get to kick some Nighlok butt. Too bad there's none here." She said.

Baron sighed and crossed his arms. "Perhaps we should be grateful we do not need to work together as you clearly have anger issues you need to sort out before being part of any team." He said.

Mako grabbed Baron's tie firmly then pushed him away. "I don't have anger issues, and you don't know the first thing about me." She told him.

"Nothing says I don't have anger issues like angrily pushing someone." Emilio laughed. Mako glared fiercely at him, but he just smiled back at her. Michelle looked at her brother dissapointed and shook her head at his attitude.

Baron composed himself as he straightened his tie and dusted himself off. As he was about to retort back, the area became filled with a deep purple fog.

"So this is the legendary group of Power Rangers that is set to defeat the Nighlok." A mysterious feminine voice could be heard saying from out of the fog. "A leader who's unfit to lead, an anger ridden girl with mommy issues, a showoff who's a little too full of himself, an insecure and worried child, and someone who worships following the rules more than being their own person. Honestly this is a major downgrade from last generation's warriors." It taunted them.

The team stood in the fog shaken and unsure of how to act. "We're not scared of you Nighlok." Brenden yelled out.

The voice laughed tauntingly and the fog grew stronger covering up the city and leaving them with nothing in sight except for the fog itself. "Let's see if you can compare to the legacy of your parents. The legendary rangers who defeated the Nighlok for good. Prepare to face the ghost of Nighlok past."

As they looked around the fog began to take shape, and they were soon met with some of the strongest Nighlok that their parents had ever. They found themselves face to face with Serrator, Deker, Dayu, and Master Xandred himself.

"That's impossible. Our parents destroyed all of you." Michelle yelled out in desperation.

"Don't fall for these cheap Nighlok tricks. They're just illusions to mess with us." Mako said.

Mako moved forward to prove her point, but she was promptly struck down by Serrator's blade.

"These may just be ghosts, but in my world they are very real. Farewell Samurai Rangers, it was a pleasure to destroy you. As a final gift I will allow you to know the name of the one who ended the Samurai legacy. I am Invidious." She said laughing menacingly.

The team looked at each other unsure of what to do. "Come on you guys, it's morphing time." Brenden said holding out his Samuraizer.

"Are you crazy? We can't fight off all four of them. Our parents could barely handle them one at a time." Michelle said holding onto Emilio in fear.

"Michelle is right, the best thing we can do is retreat and return with a strategy." Baron said.

Mako struggled to get up, her stomach still in pain from the strike she received. "I am not running away. If you all want to run back home to you parents that's your problem, but I am going to fight." She said.

"You can barely move, you're in no condition to fight." Brenden said. He picked Mako up and carried her over his shoulder. "They don't seem to be attacking us unless we fight first, so we should be able to retreat no problem." He said.

Mako tried kicking to free herself, but was still too weak. "Let me go, I'm going to fight." She yelled.

"Enough!" Baron yelled out in frustration. "If you stay here to fight you are going to die, no question about it. Now let's stop entertaining your little tantrum and retreat before these ghosts decide to go on the offense." He said.

"Yeah, let's just go." Michelle timidly said nodding in agreement.

The rangers ran back to Shiba as fast as they could hoping to come up with a strategy of some sort. The fog lessened slightly once they were gone. "Just as planned. Hurry back soon rangers and bring me what I need to destroy this world." Invidious said.

Back at Shiba House, the former rangers along with Olivia had a heavy talk. Antonio and Lauren finally told their daughter about the samurai legacy that she was a part of, about the Samurai Power Rangers, and about the fight they had against the Nighlok 25 years ago. They also told their former teammates that they withheld this information from Olivia for years.

"I can't believe you never told me about this." Olivia said betrayed and heartbroken.

Lauren moved to hug her daughter, but Olivia pushed her away. "Olivia please you have to understand why we did this." Lauren said.

"You're a Garcia, and we aren't samurai." Antonio argued.

"But I'm also a Shiba." Olivia argued back. "This is a part of me, a part of me that I never knew about. I'm supposed to be leading the others right now, but instead I'm at home thinking the smoke detector was broken." She yelled.

"Olivia you have to trust me. The samurai life isn't a pleasant one. I wanted you to have a normal life away from all of that. After everything I did to keep the world safe I just wanted my daughter to have a normal life." Lauren said.

Olivia shook her head tearing up. "That should've been my choice mom. You had no right to keep this from me." Olivia wiped away the few tears that she had and sighed at her parents. "I need some time alone." She softly said exiting the room.

As Olivia left, the focus shifted back to Lauren and Antonio with their former teammates looking at them dissapointed. "Olivia is right you know, she deserved to make a choice herself then having this hidden from her." Jayden said.

"If you want to be mad at someone it was my idea." Antonio said. "I decided Olivia didn't need to know since I wasn't a samurai, but leave Lauren out of this." He said.

Lauren held Antonio's hand shaking her head. "Don't take the blame for this Antonio, we both decided together. I know you want to protect me, but we agreed that it was for the best that Olivia not know." She said.

"Your daughter is the rightful leader of the next generation." Kevin told them.

"Not just that, but she seems really hurt that you kept this from her." Mia added.

"Are really surprised by this?" Mike asked. "Antonio never really got the samurai stuff, and Lauren always seemed to hate it." He said.

Jayden crossed his arms and looked down at the pair. "I'm really dissapointed in you Lauren. What would dad think about this?" Jayden asked.

Lauren squeezed Antonio's hand as tight as she could trying to hold back her emotions. "That's not fair Jayden. " She said.

"Dad sacrificed himself so that you and I could keep fighting." Jayden said.

"The fight was over Jayden. None of us thought the Nighlok would ever come back." Antonio argued.

"But we needed to be ready in case they ever did return." Jayden said. "This is bigger than us, it's about keeping the world safe when they need the Samurai Rangers."

Lauren couldn't keep her emotions back any further and the tears began to flow from her. "Being a samurai took everything from me. Friends, family, my whole life was gone. Is it so wrong that I wanted to keep my daughter from having to go through that?" She asked.

"We all had to make sacrifices, that's part of being a samurai." Kevin argued. "We all had to give things up, but when the world needed us we were ready. Our children understood that, and Olivia would've understood too if you had told her." He said.

Emily offered Lauren a hug hoping to console her slightly. "You can't change the past, but you can make up for it by helping Olivia now." She said.

Lauren nodded silently and Antonio put his arm around her waist hoping to help her out. The doors to Shiba House slammed open suddenly, and the new rangers came rushing in. Mako had collapsed unconscious from the pain as well as her struggling, so they put her on the sofa to rest.

"What happened?" Jayden asked seeing them tired and Mako unconscious.

Mia went over to her daughter and gently held her cheek. "Is she okay?" She asked.

Mako woke up and shoved Mia aside. "I'm fine mom, you don't need to worry about me." She bitterly said.

"The Nighlok are back, and it's worse than we thought." Brenden said.

Brenden proceeded to tell them about what had happened when they got into the city. Upon hearing the threat that they were facing against the former rangers faces paled in concern for their children.

"So do you have a plan for next time you go fight this Invidious?" Jayden asked.

"We were kind of hoping you could help us with that." Michelle timidly said. "Since you have experience fighting all four of them." She added.

"Each one of them was a difficult fight on it's own. I don't know how we would be able to take down all four of them at the same time." Mia said.

Brenden suddenly got hit with an idea and jumped up. "Wait, that's it." He said. "I know what we can do." He said.

"Can you hurry it up?" Mako asked impatiently. "I'm ready to go back and teach those Nighlok a lesson." She said.

Brenden nodded and turned to look at everyone gathered around. "We might not be able to take down all four of them, but if we stop Invidious then they'll all go away too." He said.

Emilio laughed sarcastically and shook his head. "That's the plan. Hate to break it to you, but Invidious is a voice in a fog. How are we supposed to fight that?" He asked.

"With the strongest technique against any Nighlok whether they have a physical form or not." He said. "Aunt Lauren will use the sealing symbol to seal away Invidious." He said.

Attention turned back to Lauren who nodded slowly. "I can still perform the sealing symbol if needed, but it takes time to perform. Will you be able to hold your own against the four ghosts to get me enough time?" She asked.

"They will if we fight with them." Jayden said. "If the eleven of us fight together then Lauren will have more than enough time." He said.

"Are you sure you won't just slow us down in your old age?" Mako asked them.

Mike laughed and looked over at Mia. "Your daughter is nothing like you, you know that." He joked.

Mia shook her head, but smiled. "Mako can be a handful, but I love her nonetheless." She said.

"This won't be like when we train together. It'll be much more intense and more difficult." Kevin told Baron.

Baron bowed respectfully towards his dad. "It'll be an honor to fight alongside you father." He said.

"Are you ready to fight?" Emily asked Michelle.

"I am if you're with me mom." Michelle responded.

"Rangers Together!" Brenden and Jayden said together.

"Samurai Forever!" Everyone responded in unison. In the corner of the room Olivia saw them all together and sighed heading back to her guest bedroom.

The twelve rangers raced over to the city and morphed ready to fight. "So the children return bringing the legendary warriors of the last generation to save them." Invidious mocked.

"We just wanted to give these old timers a taste of the good old days before the Nighlok are gone again." Emilio said.

"No matter, I'll destroy every last one of you." Invidious yelled enveloping them in the fog once more.

The four ghosts of Nighlok past reemerged, and the rangers got to fighting them as Lauren stood on the side preparing the sealing symbol. While the teamwork between the parents was well done, the children were having difficulty working together.

"Get out of my way." Mako told Michelle.

"Sorry," Michelle timidly squeaked out. "I was trying to cover you." She said.

"Hey don't yell at her when she's trying to help." Emilio told Mako.

"You guys, this isn't the time for fighting." Mike yelled over at them. In his distraction, he was almost stuck by Ghost Xandred, but Mia was able to save him at the last moment blasting him and diverting his attention away.

"When this is over we're working on your teamwork skills." Emily told them.

Lauren continued to work on the sealing symbol nearly finishing it. As she was wrapping up, she noticed Ghost Dayu preparing to blast her. Luckily, Antonio intercepted at the last second cutting the blast with his barracuda blade. He winked at Lauren and even though she couldn't see it, she blushed at him.

"Just a little more!" Jayden yelled as everyone was starting to get tired and the ghosts seemed to have no injury at all.

Lauren finished the spell and fired it into the fog. The purple fog started to slowly disappear and the ghost Nighloks all vanished as well. Soon the fog was completely gone. Everyone unmorphed and engaged in a group hug.

"Great idea to use the sealing symbol Brenden. You'd be a good leader if you needed to be." Jayden said.

"Thanks dad, and it was nice to fight together with you." He smiled.

Mia went over to Mako and hugged her. "I didn't slow you down too much did I?" Mia asked.

Mako hugged Mai back before shoving her away slightly. "Not as much as I expected." She said hiding a faint smile.

Kevin and Baron exchanged a nod to each other and smiled.

Michelle and Emilio went over to Mike and Emily happily holding their morphers. "Mom, dad, Michelle and I have been talking, and I think I would work better as the yellow ranger while she takes on the role of green." Emilio told them. Michelle nodded in agreement.

"Well there's no rule against it." Emily said.

"Have we ever had a female green before?" Mike asked.

"You do now, and I promise I'll make you proud dad." Michelle told him as she gave him a hug.

Antonio went over to Lauren and wrapped his arms around her. "I know it's over, but it's never too late to start Olivia's training." He told her.

Lauren nodded at him. "If that's what she wants then we'll train her." She agreed.

As the group turned to leave back to Shiba House, they were disturbed by a familiar evil laughter. "Did you really think it was over?" Invidious asked. They turned around to see that instead of the fog now before them was a physical form. Invidious was a feminine purple Nighlok with Spikes hanging from her arms and horns that were curved to resemble hair. She carried at her waist what looked to be a rapier. "This is only the beginning."

"How is that possible. You should have been sealed away." Antonio yelled out.

Invidious laughed mockingly. "Humans are so predictable, and so naive. Did you really think you were the only ones capable of harnessing symbol power?" Invidious asked. She drew a symbol with her hand and sent out a powerful shock wave that knocked everyone down. "My dark symbol power was able to absorb your sealing symbol and give me the energy needed to regain my physical form. You'd better be prepared Samurai Rangers because the Nighlok are back, and the Earth will be ours." She said before teleporting away.

"What have I done?" Lauren asked herself on the floor reeling in pain from the shock wave of the dark symbol power.

* * *

A/N: And we're finally done with Chapter 2. A bit more insight into the new team, and they are so dysfunctional. I know Mako and Olivia got a lot of focus here, but I will be spreading out the focus on all the children OCs. I just really like them too the most right now. Next chapter things might start to be a bit more episodic, but there will still be a connected story to tell here. Sorry it took so long, but it ended up being better than I expected. Hope you enjoyed.


	3. A Joke of a Team

The Samurai Rangers slowly started to recover form the power of the shock wave Invidious had unleashed on them. Lauren had a blank expression on her face as the realization of what had just happened continued to haunt her.

"Lauren are you alright?" Antonio asked her. He ran over to hug Lauren and she embraced him trying to find some form of comfort.

"Invidious is stronger than she was before, and it's all my fault." Lauren chocked out.

Brenden slowly approached his aunt and put his had on her shoulder. "Aunt Lauren you can't blame yourself for this. It was my idea to use the sealing symbol on Invidious and none of us could have predicted that a Nighlok would be able to use symbol power." He told her.

Jayden nodded in agreement. "He's right this isn't anyone's fault. Now we'd better get back to Shiba House before Invidious decides to finish what she started." He said.

Everyone nodded in agreement and picked themselves up heading back as quickly as they could. Lauren sighed quietly, but not quietly enough that Antonio couldn't hear her.

"Come on Lauren it's not your fault." He said.

"I know, but this is the second time I've performed the sealing symbol and the second time that it's failed. Years hidden away training and I can't even do the one thing I'm supposed to." She berated herself.

Antonio shook his head in disagreement. "You did the best you could Lauren, and we're all proud to fight along side you. You're also the mother to a fantastico daughter and someone I'm glad I can spend my life with." He told her.

Lauren smiled and gave Antonio a kiss on the cheek. "You always know how to make me feel better. Hopefully Olivia is feeling better too." She said.

In the Nighlok Realm, Invidious arrived back at Octoroo's boat much to the surprise of the smaller Nighlok.

"Ooh-ah-ooh who are you?" Octoroo asked Invidious.

Invidious rolled her eyes at him. "You already asked me that." She told him.

"Invidious is that you?" Octoroo asked her. "I didn't recognize the new you since the last time we spoke you were just a floating voice." He said.

Invidious laughed admiring her new form. "You can thank the red ranger for returning me to this state. I knew those fools would try using the sealing symbol, and thanks to my dark symbol power I could absorb that energy for myself." She explained.

"Ooh-ah-ooh, now what are you going to do?" Octoroo asked Invidious.

She smiled and began to create a symbol with her dark symbol power. "The red ranger seems to have gotten weaker in her old age so I'm not at my full power yet. As I am now every time I use my dark symbol power part of the energy I absorbed from her gets drained away from me. I expected as such, so I already have a plan to restore my full power. Then I can crush the Samurai Rangers and the Earth." She explained to Octoroo.

Invidious finished the symbol and from it a Nighlok was born. The Nighlok had an appearance similar to a clown or a jester with a long black cape. He held a whip and a bouncing ball. Invidious clutched her chest in pain once the Nighlok was created before catching her breath. "If using the dark symbol power drains you why use it making a Nighlok?" Octoroo asked her.

Invidious stood back up regaining her strength. "I merely need to adjust to this new body, and creating these Nighlok warriors requires very little effort. I'll send them to keep the rangers busy and away from my plans. The new Samurai Rangers are hardly the warriors that their parents were making my victory all the easier. Maximi go destroy the rangers!" She ordered her Nighlok creation.

The rangers regathered at Shiba House, now recovered from the fight against Invidious. Everyone except for Olivia had gathered together in the dining room as they tried to come up with an idea for how to proceed with the fight.

"Invidious is unlike any Nighlok threat we've ever faced. Her dark symbol power makes her an unpredictable opponent." Jayden said.

"I don't think it's a good idea that we leave the kids alone to face this." Mia said.

Mako stood up immediately in retaliation. "We're not kids, and if you think we're going to keep letting you treat us like we aren't ready then you're wrong." She yelled.

"This has nothing to do with if you're ready or not." Kevin said. "Invidious isn't a regular Nighlok and until we know more about her dark symbol power it isn't safe to let you handle this.

Baron shook his head at his dad. "Forgive me father, but you're wrong. We have trained for this and while Invidious may not be a traditional Nighlok it is still our job to protect the Earth. You had your time as a ranger, but it is our time now." He said.

"How are you going to protect the Earth when you can't even fight as a team?" Mike asked them. "If that fight we had against Invidious was any indication your teamwork is hurting you more than it's helping you." He pointed out.

"They just have to learn to follow my lead and we'll be good." Emilio said.

"Emilio, you know Brenden is the leader remember." Michelle told him.

Emilio shrugged indifferently. "Sure he might be the leader, but we all know I'm the best fighter we have on the team." He said.

"That ego problem of yours is going to get your teammates hurt." Emily scolded her son. "It's our own fault for praising you so much, but you need to learn how to work with your teammates." She told him.

"Do we even need teamwork? We're each good enough fighters on our own so I don't see the point of caring so much if we can work as a team or not." Mako said.

"A team is stronger than any individual member ever could be. When you all learn to work together you'll see why it's so important." Jayden told them.

"Rangers together, Samurai forever. It's much more than just a phrase you know." Mia said. "We couldn't have won the battles we did if it wasn't for all of us working together and watching each other's backs." She added.

Their argument was cut short by the gap sensor going off. They took a look and saw the Nighlok Invidious had created along with a pack of Moogers attacking the city.

"Let's go." Brenden told his team. They nodded and headed out to fight the Nighlok.

The former rangers looked at each other in concern as their children rushed out to battle. "Do you think that they're going to be alright?" Emily asked.

"We have to have faith our training paid off." Jayden replied.

"Do you ever think our parents worried about us this much when we started to fight the Nighlok?" Mia asked.

"Even if they worried, they felt the Earth would be safe in our hands. We owe our children the same regardless of if the threat they face is much more dangerous than the one we fought." Kevin replied.

The others nodded in agreement. Out of the corner of her eye, Lauren noticed Olivia was going about to head out of Shiba House.

"Olivia, Antonio and I are ready to start trying you if you still want that." She said.

Olivia looked away not making eye contact with her mom. "Might be a bit late for that mom. I'm going to do some fishing to clear my head." She said.

"Be careful, there's a Nighlok in the city right now." Antonio told her.

"I'll be fine, the others are taking care of it aren't they." She bitterly replied before exiting to head off to the pier.

Lauren hug her head and Antonio wrapped his arms around her. "Give Olivia some time. She needs space right now, but I'm sure she'll forgive us over time." He told her. Lauren nodded silently in agreement.

At the scene of the Nighlok attack, Maximi and the moogers had been terrorizing the citizens there. He used a variety of tricks to his disposal such as firing an energy blast out of his whip, as well as hidden daggers he could pull from his cape. His ultimate trap however was trapping people inside of his bouncing balls. The rangers arrived on the scene ready to fight.

"We're sending you back where you came from Nighlok." Brenden told him. "It's morphing time!" He announced.

"Go Go Samurai!" The rangers announced together morphing into their ranger forms.

Once morphed Emilio rushed forward instantly. "Follow my lead." He said as he slashed against the moogers.

"Emilio I already told you that Brenden is the leader." Michelle complained rushing after her brother to help him against the moogers.

Mako rolled her eyes underneath her helmet and followed suit fighting the moogers by herself. "You two are seriously getting in my way." She yelled over at the bickering siblings.

Baron stood behind observing the rest of them fighting on their own. "I will follow your lead even if the other's don't." He told Brenden.

Brenden stood unsure of what to do next. Emilio, Michelle, and Mako had taken care of the moogers, but Maximi still stood in their way. He carefully watched his team, as well as his Nighlok opponent.

"Maybe this won't be so bad. The moogers went down easy." Michelle optimistically said.

"You may have fared well against them, but you aren't prepared for a fight of my level." Maximi told them. "Watch as all of your hopes disappear." He said. Maximi pulled a pair of daggers from behind his cape and threw them towards the rangers.

They failed to dodge the daggers at the high speed Maximi had thrown them and flew back in shock.

"We need to come up with a plan to approach him." Brenden said.

"There's no time for that. If we all hit him with what we have then he'll go down." Emilio said. He rushed forward clutching his spin sword as tightly as he could. Michelle hurried after him hoping to provide backup.

"If you think I'm going to let you take down the Nighlok all by yourself then you have another thing coming." Mako yelled over at Emilio. She ran past Michelle and easily caught up with Emilio. Both of them swung at Maximi as hard as they could, but he just smirked and caught their swords as they were about to strike him.

Maximi laughed mockingly throwing Emilio and Mako to the ground and pulling out another pair of daggers. "Well it seems that Invidious was right about you. None of you could compare to your parents so this will be too easy. You're fine fighters on your own, but all you seem to do is get in each other's way." He mocked. He threw the daggers straight at Mako and Emilio causing them to demorph. Maximi firmly grasped his whip and swung it towards the pair on the ground. Unexpectedly, Brenden jumped in the way of the hit intended for his teammates and got trapped inside of a bouncing ball.

"Brenden!" The others yelled in concern for their teammate and leader.

"Not what I intended, but it works for me." Maximi mocked. As he readied his whip once more, he began to dry up from being in the human world. "Looks like this show will have an act two rangers. Until next time." He said before leaving back to the Nighlok Realm.

The rangers grabbed the ball that Brenden was trapped in and carried it back to Shiba House in silence over their stunning defeat. They returned ashamed to face their parents, especially Jayden. When they arrived sure enough the previous generation rangers were at a loss of words.

"I knew you weren't ready." Mike said shaking his head. "One fight in and you've already lost your leader." He yelled uncharacteristically mad.

"I've never seen dad this mad before." Michelle silently said.

Emily hushed Michelle and held onto Mike's hand hoping to calm him down a bit. "Do you know what went wrong?" She asked them.

"What went wrong is that she took too long to reach the Nighlok." Mako said pointing over at Michelle. "Not to mention he wasn't even fighting. He just stood there the whole time." She yelled turning her gaze over to Baron.

"Brenden had not yet given us our orders. Unlike the three of you I respect his position as leader and will not act until he says to." Baron argued.

"Right because doing nothing is definitely better actually fighting." Emilio laughed.

"The recklessness of you three cost us our leader." Baron said.

"He isn't even our leader, he's a fill in because Olivia wasn't trained." Mako argued. "Besides I don't see why we should let either of them lead just because they get to wear red." She said.

"You guys I don't think right now is the best time to be arguing about this." Michelle timidly said.

Jayden slammed his hand on a nearby table getting everyone's attention on them. "That's enough!" He yelled. "Everyone give me your samuraizers, it's clear you all need a training exercise in teamwork before you're ready to fight again." He said holding his hand out.

They held onto their samuraizers firmly, but seeing as how Jayden wasn't joking along with the angry glares of their parents the rangers handed them over.

"Give us five minutes to set up your training exercise. You won't be getting back your morphers until you pass." Jayden told them.

"What if the Nighlok comes back?" Emilio asked.

"Then we'll handle it." Mike answered.

Once the training exercise was set up, the rangers went out to the training yard where they found a giant boulder in the center. Jayden stood in front of it and looked at the four rangers sternly.

"You're each fine rangers own your own. Mako, you have great strength and a drive to fight. Emilio, you have a natural talent for wielding a sword and harnessing your symbol power. Michelle, you inherited your mother's kindness and care for others. Baron, I can tell your father was stern with you, but you're even more dedicated to the samurai path than he was. These are strengths, but you also have weaknesses that you either haven't acknowledged, or wont. Mako, I sense a lot of anger towards your mother and that anger makes you reckless. Emilio, you've been praised your whole life so you can't take criticism or strive to improve. Michelle, you need to overcome your own insecurities and worries about yourself. Baron, while it's good to respect Brenden as your leader you also need to act for yourself when you need to. By working as a team you can help each other to improve on these faults, and increase the power you each hold individually." He told them.

"Can we just hurry up with the exercise." Mako told him clearly irritated with his lecture.

Jayden nodded and pointed at the boulder in the center of the training yard. "As a team you must remove this boulder from the yard. You are however not allowed to physically touch the boulder." He explained. "If in one hour the boulder is not removed then you won't be fighting as the Samurai Power Rangers anymore." He told them. Once the instructions were delivered Jayden headed inside to observe them from a distance.

"What kind of a weird exercise is this?" Emilio questioned looking over the boulder.

"This seems impossible." Michelle said as she looked around trying to find an answer to the exercise.

"Do you have any ideas smart guy?" Mako asked Baron who seemed to be studying the boulder closely.

Baron nodded. "I do. This is meant to be an exercise in teamwork, and I believe it to also be an exercise in symbol power." He explained.

"How are we supposed to use our symbol power without our morphers?" Michelle asked.

Mako laughed in disbelief at Michelle's question. "Are you seriously telling me that you've never used symbol power without your morpher?" She asked. "The samuraziers are just a tool to help us channel our symbol power, but as long as we can draw the symbols we can use the power within ourselves." She explained.

"Hey Michelle might be a bit slow at figuring this stuff out, but she's not an idiot." Emilio told Mako.

"Arguing is just wasting our time in this exercise." Baron said. "Let's go get some paintbrushes and sheets for our symbols. After that it's a simple matter of combining our symbol power to remove the boulder." He said.

Nodding in agreement, they went to get the necessary tools to pass this exercise. While the rangers focused on their teamwork skills, Olivia enjoyed her day fishing at the pier. Fishing with her dad always made her feel better, and even though she was alone, the experience was soothing after learning of her hidden samurai heritage. She carried the fish she caught with her and began to walk back to Shiba House. Since she kept her head down however she didn't notice someone walking in her path and bumped into them dropping all her fishing supplies.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going." Olivia nervously said picking up her dropped supplies.

The person Olivia bumped into was a girl who looked to be not much younger than Olivia. She wore a purple leather jacket over a lavender shirt and skirt combo. She also had purple highlights in her hair.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't really paying attention either." The stranger said smiling and offering Olivia a hand to help her up from the ground.

Olivia took her hand and dusted herself off. "I'm Olivia, it's nice to meet you." Olivia said.

"Charlotte, most people just remember it rhymes with my favorite color violet." She said introducing herself to Olivia. "So are you new in town? I don't think I've ever seen you around here." Charlotte said.

Olivia awkwardly played with her hair. "I'm not from around here." She said. "I was supposed to be visiting with my parents since they came to see some old friends. I was only going to be here for a day, but now I don't know how long we'll be here." She said.

Charlotte smiled happily. "Well if you're going to be around for a while I'd love to show you around a bit, maybe get to know you a little better too." She offered.

Olivia hesitantly tilted her head before shaking it. "Sorry, but my parents don't want me to wander around the city too much. The only reason I'm even out here is because I had the first fight I've ever had with my mom and I wanted to go fishing." She said.

"Hey it's okay. Maybe some other time when you're more comfortable with living here." Charlotte said. She looked and saw Olivia still had a sad expression on her face. "I know that we just met so maybe I shouldn't say anything, but maybe you should talk to your mom about this fight. My mom and I used to fight all the time. We'd argue about the dumbest things, I'd run away only to come back a few hours later. When I found out I was going to be living in this city I was so mad at her and I said things I shouldn't have. Now I just wish I could talk to her again." She said.

Olivia gasped and covered her mouth in shock. "Is your mom..." She started to ask, but couldn't finish her sentence.

"Dead?" Charlotte asked finishing the question before shaking her head and laughing softly. "No she's not, but sometimes it feels like she is. I rarely ever get to hear her voice anymore and I can't remember the last time I saw her." Charlotte said. "You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all of this even though we just met, and honestly I don't know myself. I just feel comfortable with you already, like there's some kind of connection. I must sound insane don't I?" She asked laughing to herself.

"No, in some way I know what you mean. I feel like we're somehow already close friends and I just learned your name." Olivia replied

Charlotte and Olivia both laughed together at the oddity of the situation before smiling at each other again. "So what was the fight between you and your mom about?" Charlotte asked. "If you don't mind me asking." She added.

"It's a really long story, but I found out today that her and my dad were keeping something from me. They lied about who I was, and now that I know I just can't look at them the same way. It hurts even more because my mom wasn't only lying about who I am, she was lying about who she is." Olivia said.

"What you were adopted or something?" Charlotte asked.

"Not quite..." Olivia paused thinking over what she would say carefully. "Like I said it's a long story and some of it I don't really want to talk about with anyone, but what matters is they lied to me." She said.

Charlotte went over to Olivia and gave her a pat on the shoulder before grabbing her arm. "Alright then here's what we're going to do. You and I are going to talk go over to your house. I'll wait outside while you fix things with your mom, and once everyone is happy I can take you on that tour of the city." She offered.

"Okay." Olivia nodded. "I'll just tell them how much this lie affected me, and hopefully we can be a family again." She said. Just as the two of them were about to head off to Shiba House however, Maximi and a pack of moogers attacked the docks.

At Shiba House the rangers were still struggling with their teamwork exercise being unable to move the boulder, even with their symbol power. As they kept going at it, the gap sensor went off from the Nighlok attack down by the pier.

"The Nighlok is back." Michelle said worried.

"Maybe if the so called samurai prodigy tried harder we'd be done with this dumb thing already." Mako said looking at Emilio.

Emilio whipped around to face Mako. "What's that supposed to mean?" He asked her.

"You took the yellow ranger, so that means your symbol power is literally earth. If anyone can move this boulder it should be you." She said.

"What about you air power? Why haven't you lifted this thing up already?" He asked back. "Or what about you Baron? Water beats rock doesn't it?" He asked.

Baron remained calm, but closed his eyes to concentrate and drew a symbol power drenching Emilio in water. "Yes, I think it does." He said.

"You guys we have to work together!" Michelle yelled out before timidly covering her mouth with her hand. She shook her head however and clenched her hands hard. "This was meant to be a teamwork exercise, so the only way it'll be done is if we do it together. The longer we take the more people will suffer from the Nighlok attack going on." She said.

Baron, Mako, and Emilio looked at each other and nodded. "You have any ideas?" Mako asked Michelle.

"Just a small one." Michelle mumbled unsure before telling them her plan.

The four of them gathered together and began to draw their element symbols. Emilio went first making a trench around the boulder, once the trench was finished Emilio flooded it leaving the boulder submerged. Michelle wrapped vines around the boulder and used the trench along with the water as a lever to lift it up. Once it was lifted, Mako pushed it as hard as she could with wind power launching it out of the yard. They smiled seeing the boulder gone, and all cheered in joy.

"Congratulations, you've passed your first exercise and earned these back." Jayden said stepping outside to return their morphers. "Go now and fight as a team." He said.

"What about Brenden?" Emilio asked. "He's still trapped as a ball thanks to the monster." He pointed out.

Jayden smiled handing them the ball Brenden was trapped in. "If there's one thing you need to learn about fighting the Nighlok, it's that there's always a way to undo whatever they cause." He said.

The team raced down to the pier as quickly as they could, where Maximi was terrorizing everyone. In the distance as they approached the scene, they saw Olivia trying and failing to use her fishing pole to fight off the moogers.

"Olivia we have to get out of here." Charlotte yelled over to her.

"You go somewhere safe, I have to at least try." Olivia argued back.

"Are you crazy, what can you do to fight these monsters. My mom told me they used to attack this city years ago, but everyone thought they were gone." Charlotte said.

"Go Go Samurai!" The rangers yelled out as they morphed onto the scene. Olivia smiled upon seeing them, but in that moment of distraction a mooger grabbed her fishing pole and broke it in half.

Olivia screamed in terror and closed her eyes, but when she opened them again she saw Baron had stuck down the moogers attacking her. Charlotte grabbed her arm and pulled her away. "You're insane Olivia you know that. Let's go now that the super heroes are here." She said.

"Not super heroes, Samurai Power Rangers." Olivia corrected Charlotte as the two of them ran to safety.

Maximi laughed at the rangers as he pulled out a pair of daggers. "Back for more are you?" He asked them.

"Things won't go the same this time!" Mako yelled out. "Come on guys we know what to do." She said.

Maximi threw his daggers, but the rangers skillfully dodged all of them. They pulled out their samuraizers and began to draw the same symbols they had in the training exercise. Same with the boulder beforehand, Maximi got stuck in a trench before being lifted by vines and air.

"Do you think this little trick will be enough to defeat me?" Maximi asked swinging his whip to break loose of the vines. "I'll trap you all like I did to your leader." He yelled out throwing an energy blast from his whip. As the blast approached them Emilio threw Brenden in the way, and the blast returned him to normal.

"I'm back." Brenden said in shock as he looked over being returned to normal.

"What!?" Maximi yelled out. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"How did you know that you'd be able fix Brenden by having the Nighlok blast him again?" Mako asked Emilio impressed.

Emilio shrugged and grinned. "I didn't, but at least it all worked out right." He said.

"You mean you didn't know that would work?" Michelle yelled at him.

"What if the blast had destroyed Brenden for good?" Baron asked.

"Guys now's not the time for this." Brenden told them. "We still have a Nighlok to finish off. Go Go Samurai"

With Brenden morphed the team stepped together for their group pose. "Rangers Together, Samurai Forever!" They said.

"Forever is going to be a short amount of time." Maximi said grabbing his daggers once more and taking aim at the rangers.

"Any idea on how to beat this thing?" Mako asked Brenden as they continued to doge the daggers or deflect them with their spin swords.

Brenden nodded at her. "Last time we fought I was watching to try and find any kind of attack patterns, and I think I found one. The Nighlok can only throw out so many daggers before pulling more from it's cape. I think that's our opening." He explained.

"We'll follow your lead then if you know when to strike." Emilio told Brenden. The others nodded in agreement.

As Maximi continued to assault them with daggers they slowly made their way towards him. Each time he took even the briefest pause in his attack they approached more. Finally, when they were directly in front of him, Mako and Emilio swung their spin swords at him.

Maximi caught the swords same as last time and laughed. "Didn't you learn anything from the last time you tried this move?" He asked mockingly.

Emilio smirked confidently. "Yeah we learned it makes a good way of keeping you distracted." He said.

Maximi looked to see Brenden charge forward with his spin sword on fire. He struck Maximi as hard as he could, and the Nighlok fell backwards in pain. "Looks like you're better than I thought rangers. Invidious is going to have fun fighting against you." He laughed as he exploded.

"We did it." Michelle cheered jumping excitedly.

"Not quite, the Nighlok is about to grow." Brenden reminded them. "Let's summon the samurai zords." He ordered.

The rangers summoned their folding zords, and combined them into the Samurai Megazord. Once inside they looked around amazed at just what it was like to be inside the megazord.

"You know my mom told me the first time they tried to form the megazord they couldn't do it." Michelle said laughing.

"Then it looks like we're better than them after all." Mako gloated. As they moved to fight however they were uncoordinated and the megazord collapsed to the ground. "Never mind, it's not as easy as I thought." Mako grumbled.

"Come on, we have to fight as a team, together." Brenden said. They clutched their swords to control the Megazord, and stuck together in perfect sync. Maximi was unprepared for the sudden attack after their collapse, and the giant Nighlok was destroyed.

"You won't win so easy next time rangers!" Maximi yelled out before being destroyed for good.

Brenden threw his fist in the air eagerly. "Samurai Rangers, Victory is ours." He declared.

"Do you really need to say that after every battle?" Mako asked him.

"Come on, it's tradition." Michelle said giggling happily.

Mako shook her head, but underneath her helmet she was smiling at her team.

"That was a crazy first day in the city wasn't it?" Charlotte asked Olivia as the two new friends stood outside the gate entrance to Shiba House.

"Yeah, but maybe living here for a while won't be so bad." She smiled.

Charlotte gave Olivia a brief hug before turning around. "Well I should get home myself, maybe if I'm lucky my mom will be getting home from work around now and I'll actually be able to see her this time. I can't wait to tell her I got to meet actual Power Rangers." She said.

Olivia nodded and headed inside herself. When she entered she saw most of the previous rangers were packing up and ready to leave. "What's going on?" She asked.

"The new team seems like they've got things handled so it's time for us to go. Our fight is over, so it's their turn." Mike explained.

"We'll always be willing to come and help out if they need us, but until then they've earned the right to fight on their own." Mia added smiling.

Olivia turned to look at her parents who hadn't yet packed. "What about us?" She asked them.

Lauren slowly approached her daughter. "We didn't want to decide without your opinion. I know you must still hate me, but if you want to stay here and train we can do that." She said.

Olivia thought it over and showed a soft smile. "Mom I don't hate you. I never hated you. I was hurt that you felt the need to keep something about who you are and who I am for so long. I don't know what it means to be a samurai, and I don't know if I even want this life, but I do now that I at least want to try. I'm your daughter, so that makes me a Shiba Samurai too." She said.

Lauren and Antonio both smiled and hugged Olivia. She hugged them back and the three smiled. "That's wonderful Olivia we can start your training tomorrow." Lauren said.

Olivia paused before shaking her head. "I'm sorry mom but no. I meant what I said about forgiving you, and I want to train, but you lost the right to train me when you chose to keep this secret from me." She said. Olivia went over to Jayden and knelled before him. "Uncle Jayden will you train me to be a Samurai like my mother?" She asked him.

Jayden looked over at Antonio and Lauren who both nodded at him slowly. "Of course Olivia, it would be my honor to train you. Back when I fought with your parents and my friends we had a mentor to look after us. While mentor Ji is retired now, I will take up the role of mentor for the rangers and for you." He said.

Olivia smiled hugging Jayden gratefully. The other rangers walked in shortly afterwards still celebrating their victory. "That was the best first fight that we could've asked for." Emilio cheered.

"It could have gone better. Our leader did get captured in a ball for a while." Baron reminded him.

"Yeah, but I fixed that didn't I?" Emilio asked.

"By getting lucky and taking a guess." Brenden deadpanned.

"Yeah we're not letting you do any more decisions by yourself." Mako told Emilio.

Emilio shrugged taking a seat on the nearest sofa. "Come on we beat the monster, saved the city, worked as a team, blah blah blah. Why are we still talking about what could've gone wrong when we won?" He asked.

"Emilio please you need to be more careful next time okay." Michelle told him.

"Or maybe next time you guys should just follow my lead." Emilio offered.

"Not this dumb argument again." Mako yelled out annoyed.

"Brenden is the leader. We will not be following your lead now or anytime soon." Baron said.

Jayden watched over the rangers arguing and smiled feeling nostalgic for the days he fought alongside his own team. "They still need some work, but they're going to be a fine team before this is done. Maybe even better than ours." Jayden told his teammates. They nodded in agreement proud of the children they raised to fight and protect the human world.

* * *

AN: Looks like the team still needs to work on their teamwork, but things are getting better at least. This was the last introduction based chapter setting everything that we need to start more episodic chapters. Invidious can't directly attack the rangers because she's not as powerful as she seems, but she seems to have a plan behind the scenes. I've created a detailed outline for the rest of the story, so not only will chapters be coming out at a decent pace, but I also know how things will flow. Let me say the story will be 20 chapters long. Each of the 5 main rangers will get 2 focus episodes giving us 10 chapters. The other 10 chapters will be plot based chapters not focusing on any single ranger. As for Olivia and the new character introduced Charlotte they're going to be major players in this game. One last thing I should say, I'm terrible at writing fight scenes. I'll try my best to make them fun, but the focus here is always going to be on the interactions and character development. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and next is the first character focus episode focusing on Mia's daughter Mako.


End file.
